In Orel, the dismantling of the remains of a tree planted in honor of the abolition of serfdom was stopped

The Oryol prosecutor’s office demanded that the demolition of the remains of the oak tree, planted in 1861, be suspended. A month ago the tree was severely damaged due to bad weather; the examination revealed an irreversible process of rotting of the root system. City officials decided to demolish the remains of the oak tree, but prosecutors determined that officials had not considered preserving the tree. The department is now conducting its own inspection.

At the request of the prosecutor’s office in Orel, the demolition of a 162-year-old oak tree at the intersection of Oktyabrskaya Street and Pobeda Boulevard has been suspended. He was imprisoned in 1861 in honor of the abolition of serfdom in the Russian Empire. On October 2 of this year, a 24-meter tree actually broke in two: due to strong winds, part of the trunk with a large branch broke off. As Kommersant said, local authorities organized a special commission to assess his condition. Members of the commission initially envisioned two options—demolition or preservation of the remaining part of the oak tree. Then the head of the department of landscape architecture of the Oryol State Agrarian University named after. N.V. Parakhin Alexey Koveshnikov noted: despite damage to 40% of the tree’s area, it remains strong, and there is no rot in its core.

However, two days later the commission nevertheless concluded that the tree was unsafe. According to officials, it turned out to be unstable and was affected by stem and root rot. Columns of ants settled on the open wounds of the oak tree, and its core turned to dust. “In places where the bark is damaged, pathogenic bacteria and fungi have also settled, the actions of which lead to the gradual death of tissue and rotting of the trunk. In addition, an irreversible process of rotting of the root system has begun,” Alexey Koveshnikov changed his opinion. City authorities decided to demolish the remains of the oak tree.

However, the prosecutor of the Oryol region, Alexey Timoshin, ordered his own inspection. As the regional prosecutor’s office noted, officials issued permission for demolition “without taking measures to ensure the possibility of preservation.” For a detailed examination of the remains of the tree, specialists from the certification commission of the All-Russian program “Trees are monuments of living nature” were involved. They will draw conclusions about the possibility of preserving the oak or the need to demolish it.

On November 7, experts began studying the tree. “They arrived with special equipment, took measurements and took samples that will be examined in laboratory conditions. Then the specialists will draw expert conclusions and submit them to the prosecutor’s office. Based on the findings of the examination, if there are grounds, prosecutorial response measures will be taken,” the department explained to Kommersant. The survey was also attended by Sergei Palchikov, a member of the Council for the Preservation of the Natural Heritage of the Nation in the Federation Council of the Russian Federation, and employees of the Orel Environmental Interdistrict Prosecutor’s Office.

After the tree was damaged, the authorities noted that it was not a cultural heritage site and did not have the status of a historical monument. However, according to the prosecutor’s office, in 2015 the oak was given the status of a wildlife monument and included in the country’s National Register of Old-Growth Trees. Next to it there is a commemorative plaque with the date of planting.

The 162-year-old oak is the second historical tree in the Oryol region to be damaged due to bad weather in the last two years. At the end of 2021, a hurricane knocked down a 30-meter oak tree in the Mtsensk region, which the writer Ivan Turgenev planted on his family estate almost 200 years ago. The most famous tree of the region “posthumously” participated in the competition for the title of the main tree of Europe. But after the start of a special military operation, the Turgenev Oak was removed from the vote.

Sergey Tolmachev, Voronezh